The deal is one of the largest public-to-private acquisitions successfully executed by a financial sponsor in Australia
Gilbert + Tobin (G+T) advised in one of the largest take-private deal completed by a financial sponsor in Australia.
The firm advised Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) on its $2bn acquisition of MYOB Group, a leading provider of online business management services in Australia and New Zealand. The acquisition was completed May 8.
When KKR acquired nearly a fifth of the company in October 2018, it also submitted a non-binding indicative proposal to the MYOB board to acquire the rest of the company’s shares.
After due diligence, KKR and MYOB entered into a scheme implementation agreement under which KKR would pay $3.40 for each MYOB share by way of scheme of arrangement. G+T said that the scheme implementation agreement included several novel features not seen before in public-markets transactions in Australia.
Corporate advisory partners Alex Kauye and Peter Cook headed the G+T team that advised KKR on all aspects of the acquisition.
Kauye, who specialises in M&A, equity capital markets transactions, corporate restructurings and general corporate and securities law, said that the deal is “among the largest public-to-privates successfully executed by a financial sponsor in Australia.”
The G+T team also included corporate advisory partner Peter Reeves; special counsel Ebony Keenan-Dunn; and lawyers Keara Stretton, Richard Francis, Joshua Fisher, Ciara Coleman, Akshaya Ravi, Travis Cordingley, and Nick Madders.
Banking and infrastructure partner John Schembri led the $1.215bn debt financing. He was assisted by lawyers Erin Cartledge, Vern Lim, and Mark Nichol.
G+T recently confirmed its key role in DuluxGroup’s response to the $4.2bn bid by Nippon Paint.
